Monique Hepburn, Staff Reporter
( left - right )MCPHERSON and WEATHERLY
WESTERN BUREAU:
FIFTEEN PARISHIONERS from the Roman Catholic Diocese of Montgeo Bay, St. James, will on Sunday, June 12, receive the papal honours granted earlier this year by the late Pope John Paul II. The special ceremony will take place at the Blessed Sacrament Cathedral in Montego Bay.
The awards were made on the recommendation of the Most Reverend Charles Dufour, Roman Catholic Bishop of Montego Bay.
Mrs. Sheila Weatherly, a Montego Bay businesswoman, will head the list of awardees with the honour of 'Dame of the Order of St. Gregory The Great'. She has been serving the diocese for more than 26 years as a choir organiser, lay preacher, Eucharistic minister, and counsellor to the poor and needy.
GRATITUDE
"I am elated and it is good to know that your deeds are recognised in your lifetime," Mrs. Weatherly told The Gleaner yesterday. "I feel a deep sense of gratitude and humility at being considered for this award that was bestowed by the late Holy Father."
Mrs. Weatherly said that the award strengthens her resolve to continue her good works through the church. "The Lord has done great things. My Bishop (Reverend Dufour) has been a source of inspiration," she said.
For long and meritorious service, the second highest honour, 'The Cross For The Church and The Pontiff', will be presented to three persons Mr. Canute Johnson, for accounting consultancy; Sister Karen Brown, OSM, of the Saints Philip and James Church in Lucea, Hanover; and Mrs. Pauline Ritchie, from the Holy Name Church in Bamboo district, St. Ann.
The 'Medal of Good Merit' will be presented to 12 persons, including
Mr. Ripton McPherson, Montego Bay-based attorney-at-law, who expressed gratitude and surprise after the award was announced, as he is not a member of the Roman Catholic Church. He has been providing legal advice to the Church for more than 20 years.
"I feel very honoured about it. I am not a Roman Catholic and I am grateful that they recognised me. I have been doing legal work for them. I have been very close to the present Bishop and past bishops of Montego Bay," Mr. McPherson said.
GREAT RESPECT
"I am all the more grateful, because I have great respect for the Catholic Church in Jamaica since they are doing, and continue to do, important social and community work."
The charismatic pontiff, who led the world's one billion Catholics for 26 years, died on Saturday April 2. He was 84. Pope John Paul II was the most widely travelled pope in history and the first to visit the White House, a synagogue and communist Cuba. In August 1993, the Pope made a pastoral visit to Jamaica.
